Chapter 84 The truth comes out
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was particularly calm.

He scanned everyone and said, "In this hall? Oh, if that's the case, it's quite interesting."

After hearing this, Captain Zhou Hong frowned.

It was obvious that Deng Qianqiu overturned Zhou Hong's conclusion, which was quite harmful to him.

So Zhou Hong said, "Captain Deng, the people in the Yiluansi will never speak nonsense. If there is no real evidence, don't speak nonsense."

Deng Qianqiu was not at all afraid of his words.

Instead, he responded with a smile: "Your Majesty taught me to speak freely, but Captain Zhou, with his great authority, actually told me to shut up."

As an adult, it is always necessary to treat people differently according to their social status. Deng Qianqiu didn't expect to be popular anyway. In the Hongwu Dynasty, being popular was a very dangerous thing, okay.

In that case, then just make yourself happy.

Zhou Hong remained silent.

During this time, Zhu Yuanzhang actually speculated a lot in his mind, and finally frowned and said, "Deng Qianqiu, you said the murderer is not this Liu Chong?"

"Your Majesty, it's definitely not him." Deng Qianqiu looked very confident and said, "The real murderer is..."

Having said this, Deng Qianqiu paused as if on purpose, and then looked around the hall.

Finally, his gaze fell on Jin Si, and then the corners of his lips curled up, looking like he was smiling.

It was the eunuch who served tea and water to the prince.

Jin Si had a smile on his face, but when his gaze fell on him, he didn't move an inch. Suddenly, he was stunned.

He knelt down hurriedly, kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, I am innocent, I am innocent, I have suffered the greatest injustice in the history. I am just pouring tea and serving water on weekdays, how could I...how could I...I beg Your Majesty to make a decision for me. This Deng Qianqiu...he is slandering me, he..."

Everyone knows that whoever touches this matter will almost certainly die. Not to mention any real evidence, even if there is just suspicion, it is enough for someone like Jin Si to die a thousand times.

As a result, Jin Si was so frightened that he kowtowed frantically to avoid being wronged.

There was no emotion in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, he just looked at everything in front of him with indifference.

Crown Prince Zhu Biao frowned slightly.

Jin Si said in horror: "Over the years, I have taken care of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince with all my heart and soul, and never slacked off. I have no intention of harming His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! What good will this do me? Your Majesty... Your Majesty... I am really wronged, a great injustice! What's more... Liu Chong has confessed everything."

At this point, he looked at Deng Qianqiu with great grievance and said, "Deng Qianqiu, I have never had any grudges against you, so why do you want to implicate a small servant like me? I... I..."

As he spoke, tears were streaming down his face. He banged his head against the ground out of fear. Even though it was red and swollen, he seemed not to notice and continued to bang his head against the ground.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and looked at Deng Qianqiu with some suspicion.

Zhu Biao showed some sympathy. After all, he was someone close to him. He couldn't help but say, "Father, Jin Si is really well-behaved around me... He has never made any mistakes..."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "No need for you to say it. Deng Qianqiu, you speak."

Deng Qianqiu nodded, but looked at Zhu Yuanzhang seriously and said, "Your Majesty, can I really say this?"

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows and said, "Just what you said."

Deng Qianqiu said in embarrassment: "But Captain Zhou doesn't allow me to say it..."

Zhou Hong almost couldn't breathe. This guy really holds a grudge.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly realized that the more ferocious you are when you meet such a guy, the more sneaky he will be. Immediately, he took a deep breath, showed a calm and kind look, and said: "Go ahead, even if you are wrong, I will pardon you."

"Then I dare to say it." Deng Qianqiu said with relief: "In fact, at first, I also suspected that it might be someone from the Imperial Household Department, but... I discovered a crucial problem."

Zhu Yuanzhang was not only angry at someone for daring to poison the prince, but also a little curious. He asked, "What is the most important issue?"

Deng Qianqiu said, "Your Majesty, lead glaze is used to make tea cups. Although it is poisonous, the toxicity is not very high. Some people may be exposed to it for many years, even for twenty, thirty or fifty years, and it may not cause any problems to their health. Of course, I am talking about possibility, which depends on the craftsmanship."

Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent and just listened carefully.

Deng Qianqiu continued, "But... when His Majesty summoned His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and asked about his health, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that he had indeed not been feeling well recently, and that many of his symptoms were consistent with the symptoms of lead poisoning. So... there was only one possibility left. That is... someone was familiar with lead poisoning, and did not expect that this lead-glazed teacup would be harmful to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. They must have done something else. Because only in this way would the Crown Prince develop symptoms."

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression became more and more serious, and he asked, "What about the hands and feet you mentioned?"

Deng Qianqiu said, "Your Majesty, my judgment is that this person must be very proficient in pharmacology and must have received guidance from a great person. Based on my in-depth analysis, the person who guided him must be very extraordinary. This person... must be very familiar with the situation in the palace. Otherwise... it would be impossible to control it."

The master... is familiar with the palace...

Zhu Yuanzhang's face was getting worse and worse. He seemed to sense something and even suspected that the person who was unfavorable to the prince was very likely...

Therefore, the more he thought about it, the worse it got, and his expression became more and more terrifying and gloomy, making people tremble with fear when they saw him.

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a gloomy face: "Don't pause, continue." Deng Qianqiu didn't dare to hesitate, so he continued: "And we must arrange someone by the side of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. This person must be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's confidant... This is why I excluded Liu Chong. Although Liu Chong is in charge of the palace utensils, he is indeed unaware of this. It may be because he asked for favors, or it may be an unintentional mistake. In short, he can't really be related to the rebels."

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Deng Qianqiu deeply and said word by word: "But if that is the case, why did Liu Chong plead guilty?"

Deng Qianqiu looked at Liu Chong's miserable appearance, smiled and said, "Your Majesty, if you hang me up and beat me now, I will accept it even if I have to eat feces."

Zhu Yuanzhang shouted: "Someone come here."

Deng Qianqiu shuddered suddenly.

Shit, I was just making an analogy, are you serious?
Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Take Liu Chong away for the time being."

Huh...it turned out that he had misunderstood. Deng Qianqiu breathed a long sigh of relief, but the shock just now made him feel a little embarrassed and a little ashamed.

Liu Chong was quickly taken away.

But Captain Zhou Hong's expression was extremely embarrassed.

He lowered his head slightly, silent, but no one knew what he was thinking.

Zhu Yuanzhang continued to look at Deng Qianqiu and said, "According to what you said, only the people around the prince could be the murderer?"

"Your Majesty, that's right." Deng Qianqiu said with certainty.

At this time, Jin Si was already shouting, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, don't trust him! I am not the only one who is around the Crown Prince. I am wronged, more wronged than Dou E! This matter has nothing to do with me. I... I..."

As he spoke, a pool of urine flowed down from under his body.

When everyone saw how terrified he was, they couldn't imagine that this eunuch, who hadn't even started to torture people yet, would actually dare to do such a thing.

Zhu Yuanzhang ignored this and continued to question Deng Qianqiu: "Jin Si said something right. There are many people around the prince. How can you be so sure that this person is Jin Si?"

Deng Qianqiu turned around and glanced at Jin Si, only to see that Jin Si was trembling with fear. It must be said that such a person does not look like someone who can accomplish great things.

He is just like Deng Qianqiu, a coward.

Deng Qianqiu smiled again and said, "In fact, at first, I didn't dare to confirm it until I found his hand."

"His hand?" Zhu Yuanzhang closed his eyes slightly.

Deng Qianqiu said: "His hands are very white, but they also look dry, so... there is a lot of sloughing."

This time, I couldn't figure it out.

Everyone couldn't help but look at Jin Si's hand, but they all showed doubts.

Zhu Yuanzhang raised the question in everyone's mind: "What is the reason for this?"

Deng Qianqiu said, "Your Majesty, I just said that the people around the prince must have used some method to induce the lead poison. It wasn't until I saw his hands that I knew what method he used."

Deng Qianqiu felt a little embarrassed when no one responded to him, so he continued, "It's vinegar!"

"With vinegar?"

Everyone was surprised by this answer.

Deng Qianqiu said: "That's right. If you use vinegar, you can wash out the lead glaze with good craftsmanship. If a person often uses vinegar to wash tea cups, then his hands will be soaked in vinegar for a long time, which will certainly make his hands white and soft. But at the same time, it will also make something unbalanced in his hands, thus... breeding skin diseases."

Everyone subconsciously turned their eyes to Jin Si.

Jin Si subconsciously hid his hands in his sleeves.

But this unintentional action suddenly aroused suspicion.

Zhu Yuanzhang felt that this answer was indeed somewhat reasonable, and asked, "Is that so?"

"Not only that." Deng Qianqiu said, "This just made me suspicious. In order to avoid being wronged by Jin Si, I took advantage of the interrogation of Liu Chong by the Yiluansi to ask people around what kind of washing utensils are used in the palace. The answer I got was... no one uses vinegar! Your Majesty, it can be washed with water, why did Jin Si... choose to use vinegar to wash?"

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath. It is true that no matter how hard you try to guard against a thief day and night, you can never guard against a thief within your own home!

What he could not imagine was that there were so many tricks here alone. If someone really wanted to murder someone in the palace, it would be hard to guard against even if it was intentional!
Regardless of what Zhu Yuanzhang thought, Deng Qianqiu continued, "In order to ensure that everything is foolproof, I secretly inquired about Jin Si's situation in the Great Hall and Chunhe Palace. They all said that Jin Si doesn't like to drink vinegar on weekdays, and... there is no record of him officially calling for vinegar."

"Your Majesty, do you know what this means? It means that this person is guilty! He used vinegar to wash the teacups secretly. In order to prevent evidence from being left, even though no one would intentionally investigate what was wrong with washing the teacups with vinegar, he still chose to keep it secret. This shows how cautious this person is."

As soon as these words came out, Jin Si in the hall suddenly shouted loudly, grinning grimly, "Deng Qianqiu..."

It happened so quickly that Jin Si actually pounced over.

Deng Qianqiu was so scared that he hurriedly tried to hide behind Zhu Biao, who was closest to him.

(End of this chapter)